


the colors that we mix will set the mind free

by ForestFish



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, Betaed, Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, Descriptions of BLOOD and WEED, Established Relationship, Fluff, Future AU, Gift Fic, High Behavior, KNBSecretSanta2020, LA in December, M/M, Mentions of Questionable takes on the Law, Professional Players AU, Rarepair, Secret Santa Fic, Set in LA, Song Reference, be gay do crimes, everyone has tattoos, smoking weed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:35:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28194807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForestFish/pseuds/ForestFish
Summary: "Breathe life into dead space blow away your clouds of doubtNew territory we determine to beEverything a safe haven it's supposed to be"(Or Japan's Basketball freshly rostered team of former miracles and almost miracles is up against the best Basketball team in America and they taste bitter defeat. Maturity and reason goes out the window and frustration takes over. Tatsuya suggests getting over the bad vibes in the way of the locals.)
Relationships: (side) KiseMuro, (side) Midotaka, Aomine Daiki/Kagami Taiga
Kudos: 17





	the colors that we mix will set the mind free

**Author's Note:**

  * For [syphadelic (Elaina)](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=syphadelic+%28Elaina%29).



> Hello, there, and Merry Christmas! 
> 
> This was written for the KNBSecretSanta2020 project and I got to write for Elaina (@syphadelic on twitter). I really can only hope you vibe with this, even if it falls behind your expectations :')
> 
> The original prompt ideas included: "Kagami and Aomine smoking weed perspectively;  
> GoM + Kagami as a group smoking weed having a nice chill sesh and vibing; Pro basketball AUs" and that's what I tried to work with. The fighting scene and the blaming themselves scene was low-key ripped off from Slam Dunk.  
> In this fic there's Kise/Himuro, a wildly rare pair that I really hope you don't mind. It just sort of happened as I was writing. I also hope you dig the unusual pro-team lineup. Himuro is here for 3 reasons: 1) he's one of my fave characters 2) I wanted to have him in a dream team and 3) one of my fave crackheadcanons is that he's low-key a thug and I needed someone to get them the weed. I couldn't imagine any of the others doing it except him so if anything, I hope you find it funny. There's a bunch of 'why not' things in this fic and what can I say? Not much. I based the high behavior on my own experiences. The title is a lyric from Luv(sic) by Nujabes, which you can find [ here ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGfguhnvECc). That's all 6 parts. The one that's referenced is just the first one but I love Nujabes and thought maybe you would enjoy it too. I know this is messy but well it is what it is. Really hope you vibe a bit with it.
> 
> (I got it proofread and revised for accuracy by[ this cool person on fiverr ](https://www.fiverr.com/cwasdin). They were really kind and did a mighty good job for such a messy thing. For anyone who wants to get their stuff professionally proofread but doesn't feel like bothering their friends, fiverr really is a good option. I'd never gotten anything proofread but I wanted this to be readable so I went for it. I don't regret it.)  
> [I'm @Homiro on tumblr]

* * *

Arguments were common between Taiga and Daiki, but this time it ended in a noisy fistfight in the locker room. Benches were knocked over and clattered loudly against the metal lockers. Their friends had to manhandle them away from each other, and the commotion attracted their coach.

“What the hell is your problem, morons!?” Coach yelled when he saw them, Taiga with a busted lip and Daiki with a busted brow. Taiga was shaking and Daiki had fixed his eyes on the floor. Blood trickled down his face, thinning down with the water coming out of his eyes and dripping onto the floor.

“Look,” Coach sighed. Daiki and Taiga had stopped struggling away from their friends. Both had their eyes on the floor and fell silent. “I don’t know what you kids are on about, but you made history out there. We lost, yes, but we lost against _the LA Lakers by a difference of 2 points_ , you _idiots_. This was a friendly match and you pushed them into getting serious from the start. You were up against the best team in America!” he said and looked around at the other players. “I know you all come from that damn miracle era, but in the real world, being a genius won’t do shit against players who have been working hard for years. You’ve only just started. Be proud of what you did today!” he said and there were a couple of tentative nods. Coach looked at the two roughed-up idiots and sighed. “You two go put a bandage on that. Do you need stitches?”

Both shook their heads. _Those_ wounds were superficial.

“Sorry coach.” They said in perfect unison, which made them raise their heads and lock eyes with each other, then promptly look down again. The other wounds weren’t.

“Good. If I hear that you’ve been fighting again, I’ll put you to sleep myself.” He threatened and left along with the other players who weren’t as close as the five starters.

Ryouta sighed, put a hand on his forehead, and rubbed it slightly before dropping his arm alongside his body.

“What the hell was that, seriously?” he asked mildly disgruntled. “We were up against one of the most famous teams in the world.”

“I know the pain of losing better than any of you here,” Tatsuya said, looking at Taiga especially. He’d been the one to manhandle Taiga away from the fight. Daiki had been held back by Shintarou, who’d practically put him to sleep with his chokehold. “I know what it feels like to lose your cool, too.”

“You two need to get a grip. I already knew we’d lose.” It was Shintarou who spoke sternly as he brought them ice packs and the first aid kit. Ryouta snorted and shook his head. Shintarou gave him a dirty look. “Shut up, _Gemini_.” Ryouta smiled a little, holding back a laugh. Tatsuya smiled too, looking at him. “You two sit down.”

Daiki and Taiga didn’t move immediately, and Shintarou started getting annoyed.

“I told you to sit down.” Shintarou demanded pointing one of the benches. They didn’t comply “Together, yes. _Sit down_.”

They reluctantly did but sat a bit away from each other. Not far enough to avoid the smell of each other’s blood though. Taiga’s lower lip trembled. Daiki clenched his fists over his thighs.

“Raise your head to where I can reach it,” Shintarou said to Daiki and while he was careful and had deft fingers, he still purposefully held the gauze soaked in disinfecting liquid a little too hard. Daiki winced, but didn’t complain. Shintarou assessed the depth of the wound once it was properly clean and then put a bandage over it. “Hold this against it.” He told him, handing him an ice pack.

“Thanks…” Daiki muttered.

“Now you,” Shintarou said, and Taiga braced himself to get the disinfecting liquid on his lip wound. He choked a little when some of it got in his mouth because of the pain and spat it out, along with blood. “I didn’t mean to get it in your mouth. I apologize.”

“It’s fine…” Taiga muttered shakily. He held the ice pack that Shintarou handed him, along with clean gauze to press against the cut. “Thanks…”

Ryouta and Tatsuya had sat down across from them, waiting. Shintarou stared down at them.

The silence was thick and heavy with the carefully concealed frustration. Daiki and Taiga were sitting together, and it was odd to see them like that when, as they’d grown, the others were used to seeing them playfully mess with each other. They’d seen them care openly for each other for ages. They’d seen Daiki go on Twitter rampages against Taiga’s haters when he got a tattoo and the Japanese fans called him insensitive. Taiga hadn’t gotten his tiger tat removed, and as response to that, Daiki had gotten one himself, a panther, and their close friends had followed. Tatsuya had gotten a massive dragon tattoo on his back. Ryouta got a cheetah and Shintarou, to the shock of everyone, had gotten a whole sleeve of tattoos. Their coach had been appalled seeing the mess, but ultimately accepted it and embraced the thug team vibe those kids had created as a form of protest. That had had some form of cultural impact. Movements started to fight the stigma surrounding body art in Japan because of them.

“Your horoscopes for the day weren’t good either,” Shintarou said breaking the silence. Ryouta snorted and shook his head. “Shut up, Kise.”

“We made history out there, guys. We really did,” Tatsuya echoed their coach cutting the zodiac talk short. He was the team’s captain. Not the best player, but definitely the best leader. Growing older had brought about all the confidence he didn’t have as a teen, as it often happened. “Take your time to think about what you did there and forgive yourselves for what you did to each other.”

Ryouta nodded and sighed deeply, leaning onto his captain’s shoulder.

“You did well, Ryouta. So did you, Shintarou. And of course, those two dumbasses did amazing, but when you share a single braincell, that’s what happens,” Tatsuya said mildly. “Aren’t you proud of what you did out there?”

“I know I am,” Ryouta said with a smile. “Yeah, I wanted to win but, man, we really made them struggle to the very last minute!”

Taiga and Daiki were still quiet, avoiding having to look at each other.

They’d practiced so hard for that game. It was settled that it was unlikely that they, a freshly rostered team of kids in their late teens and early 20s, could win against the Lakers. Reason told them that that result was both expected and outstanding. They knew they’d be on the news the following day, if they weren’t already trending on Twitter, but they’d still lost when they’d been so close. That was the worst feeling. The feeling you get from coming second and feeling unhappier than the person who came third.

And Daiki and Taiga both stupidly felt responsible for their loss. That had annoyed some of their other teammates who hadn’t even left the bench. Nobody had expected the Lakers to get serious so quickly during a friendly, practice game, but they had. They’d won simply because Taiga had been being pressured at the end of the game by two players and passed the ball to Daiki, who caught it, but he was also trapped. When he chanced for the three pointer that’d secure their victory, he missed, and the buzzer went off.

Shit happens. You can’t win every time. They knew that reasonably, but reason went out the window when frustration kicked in.

The bout had started because both blamed themselves for the loss in their adrenaline high. Then they started arguing after the shower, which instead of calming them down did the opposite. The argument flared as they angrily got dressed and before anyone could stop it, they’d lost all reasonable thinking and got physical.

Now they were there, hurt, exhausted and looking like kicked puppies.

“I say,” Tatsuya started and sighed, breaking the silence at last, and getting up. “We’re in LA and I think we should get over this the LA way.”

“What’s the LA way?” Ryouta asked curiously, and Tatsuya winked at him, because now he could, since he no longer felt the need to have half his face covered.

* * *

California was known for its weather, its stunning beaches, the surf culture, all the movies that were shot there, and finally, the partying and the weed. The place looked very yellow, even in the winter, sprinkled with color and lights, decorated for Christmas. Ryouta was over the moon with the idea of getting high on something that was extremely illegal in his homeland, but Daiki and Shintarou were wary of it. Taiga had also lived there, so he was aware of the local culture.

Winter wasn’t harrowingly cold, but they were glad they’d put on sweaters. The streets weren’t crowded as they would have been in the summer and people seemed to be layered up, even though it was about 15 degrees Celsius (or 60 Fahrenheit). It was still an experience though, to walk down the Venice Beach area, with the palm trees lining the street and the halfpipes covered in graffiti as the afternoon rolled by. Surreal, too, because of all the movies. It was wildly different to be there in person. It was just a place, a cool place no doubt, but a place like any other.

“Is weed really legal here?” Ryouta asked looking around, possibly to see if he could spot _The Weed._

“It’s been legal since 1996. We won’t be committing any crimes” He assured him, skipping over the formalities of medical uses _only_ and the licenses you _needed_. Nobody had time for that or cared about it anyway “We can get it anywhere.”

“Anywhere?” Ryouta asked, surprised. Tatsuya snorted.

“Not literally anywhere, silly. I won’t go to a bakery and say ‘ _Hello, I would like one weed, please’,_ though there are bakeries where you could probably get some edibles.” He joked and glanced at his brother, who had yet to cheer up or speak for that matter. Their eyes met and he smiled just a little. They’d had edibles before by accident. They didn’t talk about that.

“Edibles?” Shintarou asked.

“Pot brownies,” he clarified, but it didn’t get through. “Edible weed, Shintarou.”

“You eat it?” Ryouta asked.

“In food, yes. Let’s just get regular weed though.”

The winter in California wasn’t cold, but most natives thought it was. Only a few select specimens were out and about, hanging out by and at the beach. There were people surfing. They saw several barefoot people on the sidewalks. The sun was out and there were a few, fluffy-looking clouds scattered through the sky.

“That’s weed they’re smoking,” Tatsuya said when he took in the rich, soupy smell of it. “I’m gonna ask.”

Tatsuya approached some young guys who were smoking in their swimming attire with their surf boards beside them in Venice Beach. The sparkling sea stretched far and warm into the horizon behind them. The beach was mostly empty.

“Oh, hey there, gorgeous,” one of them smiled languidly at Tatsuya, who smiled back. His eyes were glassy and red. “Oh, you’re all hot. Man, this shit is good. Attracting guys like this… wow.”

There were a couple of high chuckles from his friends, who were clearly not straight either. It was true what they said. Queer people tended to attract one another unintentionally.

“Hey yourself” Tatsuya said back. His smooth, honey-like voice and his slightly rusty English made the guy swoon. “Is there any weed left?”

“Babe, if there weren’t I’d go to the moon to get some for you,” the dude who’d called him gorgeous said and reached for a tie-dyed fanny pack that he unzipped to pull out a bag of weed and some rolling paper.

“Oh, thank you. How much for it all?”

“I’d take a kiss for the bag, no money. We’re going on love and good vibes only here.” The guy grinned vaguely. It was obvious that he wouldn’t force it, if Tatsuya didn’t want it. It seemed like he had no shits to give and was just saying whatever was on his mind.

“My boyfriend’s right there.” Tatsuya pointed at Ryouta, who looked at him wildly and blushed. That was a lie. All that Ryouta understood was that he’d said ‘boyfriend’ and pointed at him. Tatsuya just didn’t want to kiss a stranger on the mouth. Taiga was the only one actually understanding what he was saying and frowned slightly. Ryouta blinked at Tatsuya, looking both confused and embarrassed. “He’s shy and doesn’t know a lot of English.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t mind getting one from him either.” The guy said with a silly grin. “Or any of you, if we’re keeping it real, ya know?”

“Can be on the cheek, just give him some love.” One of the other guys said with a doped smile “This idiot is in need of it. His boyfriend dumped him last month and already has another guy.”

“Ow, don’t bring that up, man. You’re killing my vibe in front of the hotties.”

Tatsuya snorted and shook his head slightly.

“I’ll take the kiss on the cheek though,” the guy said with a deep sigh “and you can take the green.”

“I don’t think my boyfriend will mind that,” Tatsuya said with a sigh. It was just a kiss on the cheek, so fine. The three dudes were sitting on a patch of rough lawn under a couple palm trees and the one who wanted the cheek kiss got up. He was considerably shorter than Tatsuya, who reached his hands to his face and pulled him up for a kiss on the cheek. His friends stared, stunned. Taiga didn’t think he’d actually do it, but while they could definitely pay, getting it for free was better.

“Is that enough?” Tatsuya asked, and the guy was already slipping the bag and the paper in his pocket. It clearly was.

“More than enough.” He said vaguely and sniffled “If I got a picture with you for the ‘Gram, that bastard would see how well I’m doing.”

Tatsuya thought that was hilarious and chuckled, shaking his head a little.

“Sure. Let me have your phone.” He switched to Japanese when he got the phone from the beaming guy. “Ryouta, get a picture of me with this guy.”

“What? Why?”

“He’s high and got dumped by his boyfriend. Get a good angle.” He said with a smile. The second-hand smoke was getting to him a little.

“Alright,” Ryouta chortled, and when he saw Tatsuya put an arm around the guy’s waist suggestively, he smiled and snapped the picture. He got the phone back and edited the captcha to say _With @himurotatsuJB from #JapansBasketball_ _;)_.

“What did you write?” the guy asked in a high, giddy daze and tried to focus on his phone, but he clearly couldn’t read anything. “Whatever.” he snorted. “I’ll check it later.”

“Thanks for the weed, Dave.” Tatsuya said softly and fist bumped the guys still sitting on the ground before going in to hug Dave, who was more than happy to get a hug from him. “Good vibes only. Forget your asshole ex. Someone better will come along.”

“Yeah.” Dave said vaguely with a smile and then frowned. “Wait… how do you know my name?”

“ _Magic_ _._ ” Tatsuya said and winked before getting away and joining his friends to leave the confused guys behind. Magic, yes. The magic of reading his name on his Instagram profile.

* * *

Tatsuya happened to be good at rolling and Shintarou, with his deft fingers, learnt how to roll a perfect one just by watching him do it. Dave, the heartbroken pothead, had given him a whole bag of weed in exchange for a kiss and a picture. It was crazy what you could get from potheads who were into their feelings. That bag had to be worth at least $50. They walked down the beach together with the chilly late afternoon breeze against their skin, smelling of seawater and sand. Their emotions rumbled and ebbed away with the waves.

There was a spot far into the beach where they could be on their own. The afternoon was slowly fading into the evening. The sky was getting orange and red as the sun sank slowly into the horizon.

“Oh, damn, I forgot to ask for a lighter,” Tatsuya sighed and clicked his tongue, looking around. Shintarou, the horoscope man who believed in fate, pulled out one from his pocket. Tatsuya stared. “Why the hell do you have that?”

“Today’s lucky item was something yellow,” Shintarou said simply.

Indeed, the lighter was very yellow. He didn’t bother asking why a lighter and just took it.

“How do you smoke though?” Ryouta asked, holding the skinny blunt he’d just been handed and inspecting it with great interest.

“It’s easy. You drag the smoke in,” Tatsuya explained as he lit his blunt before putting it between his lips, “like you’re breathing in normally. Then you exhale it. Coughing is normal.” He said and did and coughed a little as he passed the lighter back to Shintarou, who lit his own between his lips, like a pro. Shintarou took a long puff, held it in and then exhaled. He then passed the lighter over to Ryouta.

“You didn’t cough,” Ryouta observed, surprised.

“I don’t gag easily and I’ve smoked before,” Shintarou said simply, and smacked his lips. “The taste is weird. Not sure if I like it.”

“You get used to it,” Tatsuya promised with a smile.

Ryouta choked so hard he started crying, but he was so into it that he didn’t care. Shintarou smacked his back to help him and he stopped coughing, but his face was so red he looked like he was about to burst.

“Ugh,” he scrunched his whole face and stuck his tongue out, smacking his lips. “I don’t like the taste,” he chortled, but took another puff, promptly coughing again. “Oh God…” he gagged. His eyes were already getting red. “But I want to get high!” he exclaimed. Tatsuya chortled heartily.

“You will, you already are, probably… this doesn’t take long to kick in,” he said, and it was true. His tone was more relaxed than usual already, and his eyes were getting red. Shintarou was silent. The whites of his eyes turning red under his green hair made him look like a high cannabis plant. _Meta._

And, at long last, the two silent, hurt boys got the yellow lighter.

The sun was starting to sink into the sea, but the light pollution was so intense and the city so bright that it didn’t really matter. The rich, warm colours of the sunset flooded the sea and drowned them in their charm. The deep purple of the sky over the sea hit all sorts of different with the green in their system. It was like a thick blanket thrown over the world to comfort it after a long day.

Taiga got the lighter and lit his blunt in his hand like Tatsuya had done then passed the lighter over to Daiki.

Their fingers brushed against each other and Taiga was visibly shaken by it as he glanced at him for the first time since the locker room fight. The touch lingered and Daiki slowly got the lighter, looking away. He lit his blunt and threw the lighter back at Shintarou, who caught it.

There was a lot of coughing and gagging, but they were chuckling after a bit and started getting properly high after about half an hour of silence.

“Man, we’re in LA… the city of _angles_ _,_ ” Ryouta said vaguely, mispronouncing the word in his high and making Tatsuya have a fit of laughter that he didn’t think much of. “My heart’s beating too fast… am I dying?”

“Nah, that’s normal, it’s like, it’s telling you to connect with the drummers, boom boom, ya know? City of _angles_ , all acute.” Tatsuya said, taking another hit. That made a lot of sense to them. Shintarou took another hit as well and hummed.

“The sand is cold. It should be warm. We’re over the, there’s lava beneath us, Satan’s there,” he said. Nobody questioned his wisdom about Satan’s whereabouts and what was beneath them. They accepted it as the truth. He grabbed a handful of sand, looked at it and threw it up and away from them. It sparkled before their eyes in the flurry of colors that covered the sky. It was like the powder of a ground diamond. “I miss Kazunari… so much. I could die. I could die a million deaths,” he said dramatically and choked up. “I want to call him… and tell him I love him, and tell him, I want to tell him… he’s the most beautiful, his voice.” He got rid of his glasses and dropped them in the sand between himself and Tatsuya. “I miss his voice when he calls me Shin-chan. Nobody else gets to call me that.”

“Then do that, call your boy,” Tatsuya said vaguely, and lay back on the sand after finishing his blunt. Their blunts had been purposefully skinny so that they could each get one instead of sharing just the one.

“We’re in LA…” Ryouta repeated and hummed, taking another hit and still spluttering a bit. He chuckled. “We really are in America. But this is the same sea. It’s the sea from Japan too. All the same sea, but… not the same side of it. That’s crazy…”

“It is… there’s so much of it, the sea, there’s like a whole lot of it look at that…” Tatsuya said and looked at him. “I used to hate you the most, perfect copy guy… you’re everything I hate.” He laughed and there was no bile in his words. “Now I’d probably commit a crime for you.”

Ryouta chortled and coughed as Shintarou struggled with his phone, trying to get it to connect with Japan, where Kazunari was. He hadn’t put his glasses back on, so he couldn’t find the number.

“ _Siri,_ ” he grunted at his phone. “Call, call _Love_.”

Everyone was riding a giddy, mushy, introspective and silly high and then there were Taiga and Daiki, who’d been silent for over two hours, and even high they had still yet to speak. But then it hit them properly and they did.

They did at long last.

“It was nobody’s fault.” Daiki was the one to speak. His voice came out deeper and more dragged than usual. “It wasn’t, Taiga. It was just… it was meant to happen.”

Taiga groaned and huffed.

“I didn’t want to make you lose again.” Taiga said to that and finished his blunt, burying the tiny end in the sand. “I didn’t… and I did.”

Both were getting the same feeling of heightened sensitivity to their surroundings and the physical sensations of their body. Taiga buried his feet in the warm sand. It felt like it was alive.

“I just missed a shot, I was trapped and it got it all messy and the ball hopped out… shit happens.” Daiki said with a snort and looked at Taiga at last. “I didn’t want to hurt you.” He said softly and his red, glassy eyes got watery. “I lost my fucking mind for… for no damn reason.”

Taiga’s lower lip trembled when they locked eyes with each other, and he acted at last. He tackled Daiki onto the sand, leaning over him. It wasn’t quick, no. Their movements were slowed down and gentle. Their minds were drifting into a state of not giving a shit. For the first time in forever, they felt like they could be honest about their feelings.

“We won’t lose next time,” Taiga said with tears in his glassy eyes, and held his chest against Daiki’s, feeling their sped-up heartbeats like a stampede of emotions he couldn’t hold in. He held himself over Daiki with his forearms on each side of his head. The arm that Daiki put around his waist, sliding his warm calloused hand over the small of his back, so tenderly, so loving, was the push he needed to kiss his lips. He kissed him softer than he’d ever kissed him, feeling everything he’d always felt finally tumble out gently instead of in a burst of emotions. The feeling of their lips connected was unrivalled at that moment. It healed them.

Daiki’s eyes closed at the contact, and he breathed in as he brought a hand up to touch Taiga’s cheek and caress the warm skin. His back and head against the warm sand felt like they were lying on a special bed that only they could lie on, with the world around them a whirlwind of colors and emotions that washed over them like a wave of truth.

“We never lose, if we’re having fun,” Daiki smiled up at him. His genuine, innocent smile. “If we’re having fun, there’s no way we can lose,” he said and Taiga smiled back, kissing him once more. “I’m sorry for hurting you,” Daiki said and softly brushed his finger against the healing wound on his boyfriend’s lip.

“I hurt you too,” Taiga said. His mouth hovered up to Daiki’s forehead, where he kissed the wound covered in a bandage softly, before kissing his forehead and closing his eyes. “And I’m sorry,” he said softly. Daiki smiled and shook his head slightly, feeling his hair graze against the sand.. “You’re so beautiful, Daiki… have I, did I ever say that to you or did I just say it to myself?”

“To yourself,” Daiki smiled giddily and kissed him again. He held him closer and Taiga lay on top of him, slotting his face on the crook of his neck, kissing the sensitive skin and drawing a long sigh from him. “I love you.”

Those words reverberated inside his chest, and Taiga felt them like nothing he’d ever felt before. It was the first time he was hearing them in almost a year of dating him. Those words seemed to have an actual shape and the color blue.

“I love you too,” was his response, breathing onto his boyfriend’s neck, “in the color red beneath the purple, the purple of the sky right there. We can be the sky together.”

Daiki’s eyes were hazy and wet, and he could barely see the sky, but he saw the colors and the shapes. He nodded and held him against his chest.

Their heightened senses translated into a desire for honesty. And that was good. Mildly wild though, especially on Ryouta’s end.

He had gotten _frisky_ while high and brought up the fact that Tatsuya had used him as an excuse not to kiss Dave the pothead, who’d sold them the weed. Tatsuya, being a right high tease, had suggested that Ryouta should kiss him instead. Which he did. They’d been sloppily making out in the sand for around five minutes.

Music was playing and they didn’t know who’d started playing it, but it was welcome. It coursed through them like the blood in their veins. It was Nujabes. _Luv(sic)._

Taiga and Daiki were immersed deep in their own world, relaxed and in love, holding each other, feeling the music, no longer in pain. Shit happened sometimes, and while they’d solved it _the LA way_ , they communicated in the end and apologized. Losing was part of life, see. Nobody wins all the time and, as Daiki had said, if you’re having fun, there’s no way you can lose.

* * *


End file.
